Last week BB and I were at the grocery store and she spotted the most adorable handbag for sale. Yes our grocery store randomly had children’s handbags for sale – it was in their little seasonal / toys / miscellaneous / things your child is about to beg you for aisle and I almost said no when she asked if she could have it but then I noticed: A ) It was only five dollars and then considered B ) This could make an excellent bribe.

I don’t know how my brain sprung onto this idea so quickly but I’m so glad I did. See, we’ve been slooooooowwwwwwwwwlllllllllly potty training BB for a few years now and though I’m trying my best not to stress out over how long it’s taking because I already did that with Child A and it didn’t make a lick of difference in the long run, still Child B has been dragging her heels and even though I know she is 100% capable of being potty trained, she lacked all motivation to actually commit to the process. Emphasis on the past tense.

I told her quite plainly that I would love to get the purse for her but that she wouldn’t be able to use it until she was potty trained because it wasn’t big enough to carry diapers and wipes (she’s been carrying a small back pack / diaper bag for a couple of years now rather than me carrying everything – a mostly fantastic idea btw). I told her if she could stay dry for the rest of the week (just three days!!) that I’d let her have the bag and she could bring it to ballet class on Saturday.

It totally 100% worked. She was the most proud little girl ever to be able to carry her very own purse just like mommy and she seemed to understand the deal 100%. I told her up front that if she didn’t continue to stay dry going forward that I’d have to take the purse away again and she has been so determined not to let that happen that (knock on wood) she has been dry ever since. Apparently I just needed to find the right method of motivation for her and for my girl that means: ACCESSORIES.

Like mother, like daughter.